LAHORE, Sept 14: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) says that it may be ready to present a joint constitutional bill in the National Assembly provided it contains the understanding reached during its talks with the government in Lahore a couple of weeks ago.

“We may join hands with the government in tabling the bill if the latter agrees to our stance on various contentious issues,” MMA parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Qazi Husain Ahmad told Dawn here on Sunday.

However, the government would be responsible for ensuring required strength (of MPs) for the passage of the bill in the assembly, he added.

Asked if the MMA in Tuesday’s talks with prime minister Jamali would insist on holding election to the office of the president or it would consider a vote of confidence by parliament as suffice for considering Gen Pervez Musharraf as constitutional president, he said the alliance had not yet taken any final decision in this regard.

Answering a question whether there could be any third option for solving the ongoing constitutional crisis, he said a movement against the government would be the only way out if the talks process failed.

Qazi Husain Ahmad, who is also amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami, said the district-level leadership of his party, in a meeting on Saturday (Sept 13), had showed its willingness to launch a vigorous campaign against the government if the talks did not reach a fruitful conclusion.

“Our people are very much in a mood to launch a protest movement.”

Replying to a question, he said the most important issue at Monday’s meeting of the MMA supreme council in Islamabad would be to discuss how to take along the PPP and the PML-N to the LFO parleys with the government.